Compacting wheels are normally used in landfill operations to grind and/or crush and compact refuse materials to reduce the size and bulk of the refuse materials followed by compacting soil over the compacted refuse materials. It is desirable to have a tooth arrangement on compactor wheels that can readily penetrate the material being ground and/or crushed and to compact the material simultaneously while still providing good traction for the compactor wheel of the compacting machine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,566 issued Apr. 24, 1990 to J. O. Caron, teaches an arrangement having a plurality of teeth to provide traction and a second plurality of teeth to provide the grinding and/or crushing and compaction of the materials. It is also desirable in compactor wheels to have an arrangement of teeth thereon that resist any tendency of soil and/or other debris to build-up between the respective teeth. Consequently, it is beneficial to limit the number of teeth on the compactor wheel in order to minimize the tendency of refuse material and/or soil to collect between the teeth. U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,942 which issued Feb. 21, 1978 to T. E. Cochran, teaches a tooth which has an outer profile configured in a "plus" shape. The portion of the "plus" shape that is aligned parallel to the direction of travel of the wheel provides the crushing and/or grinding and compacting of the refuse material and/or soil while the portion of the "plus" shape that is transverse to the direction of travel of the wheel provides the traction of the wheel on the refuse material and/or soil being worked. The total exterior profile of the tooth functions to compact the material being worked. In many instances, however, the above noted arrangements may disturb the surface of the refuse material and/or soil due to the entry and exit of the tooth during operation which may lead to erosion of the refuse material and/or soil by wind and/or rain. By having the grinding and/or crushing, the compacting, and the traction functions all on the same tooth, the number of teeth on the circumference of the wheel can be reduced, thus further reducing the possibility of refuse material and/or soil collecting between the respective teeth.
It is desirable to provide a tooth that readily penetrates the refuse material being worked, crushes and/or grinds the refuse material and simultaneously compacts the refuse material while still providing good traction of the compactor wheel on the materials being worked without disturbing the surface of the refuse material and/or soil. It is likewise desirable to provide a tooth for use on the compactor wheel that requires a smaller number of teeth per wheel, thus reducing the tendency of refuse material and/or soil collecting between the teeth.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.